PART FIFTH

PLEADINGS OF THE HEART

WHO is the richest man on earth?
Who has the most to loan?
What opulence has greatest girth
And brightest coins to own?
Wealth greatest is which farthest goes,
Which doth not from us part;

More stable fortune no man knows

Than wealth within his heart.

THY HEART AND MINE

We have hearts, and we are conscious of heart-life. We know that all around us are people who feel and act as if swayed by influences different and greater than those which come from physical and mental life.

Most of these people are white (so called), some are black, a few are red or yellow; but all are much alike in heart-colorthat is, they are all capable of heart development.

And these people really differ more in the degree of their heart development than they do in any other way. It is this that makes them good or bad, acceptable or unacceptable, to each other. It is this, also, which differentiates them from the animal world; they have a moral nature; they laugh, they weep, they show emotion and render help as no mere animals

can.

They also differ from animals in their intellectual capacity. A dog never gets beyond his bark, but a man's progress knows no bounds. The degree of refinement possible to men is marvelous, and it seems to depend in no small degree upon the state of the heart.

Most of us admire people who are civil, courteous, generous, genial, friendly, and refined; people who attend to their own business, go to school and to Church, may be, who work hard, play some, show regard for others, and act right generally. It takes heart to be and do all this.

As a rule, people of well-developed heart-life get along pleasantly together. They are not cruel, vengeful, intolerant, or barbaric. They show mercy toward each other. They have a spirit within them which makes them seem different from many of the nations that occupied the world in ancient days.

Heart-life is what does it. There is no other instinct like that of the heart. A good heart is the best thing on earth. A bad heart is the worst. A kind heart is a fountain of gladness. A cruel heart is a mire-bed of terror. All human actions take their character from the condition of the heart.

The heart has cravings. It pleads for its own good. It is a world in itself. It is the sanctuary of God, or needs to be. It reaches out after the richest knowledge, the brightest light, the purest air, the most radiant prospect, and the surest foundation. There is no limit to heart experience and no end to heart longing.

HEARTLESSNESS

I call it heartlessness to wish
A neighbor any ill;

And almost heartlessness, if rich,
The hungry not to fill.

To know we may some help bestow
Yet feel no wise inclined,

Is heartlessness and deadness, too,
And bigotry combined.

'T is heartlessness to feel concern

For selfish self alone;

To have no heart within to burn
When righteousness has flown.

In truth, 't is heartlessness to live
With undeveloped powers;
To take all good, and never give
The world a bit of ours.

THE MIGHTY PLEA

“O, that I knew where I might find Him!" This is the mighty plea of the human heart.

This cry was heard of old, it is heard to-day, and will be heard to the end of time.

But can a man find God?. Not by searching for Him; but he can be found of Him.

Under latter-day unfoldings man is found of God, who reveals Himself as our Father, and makes His home in the heart. The Mohammedans have ninety-four names for the Deity, but not once do they call Him "our Father."

Until a man learns to trust in God as a child trusts in its father, he has not learned the secret of heart satisfaction.

The Divine Being should have the same place in a man's heart that He holds in the universe; that is, He should fill it full; then the heart longing is stilled.

There are only two absolutely essential things for a man to learn: one is, his own soul; and the other, God. The soul with God in it is an entity of supreme delight.

And millions of people have learned these two essentials. They are just as sure of them as they are that they live. If need be, they would die to testify to these realities.

A scientist said, in lecturing, "There is no such thing as a heartfelt religion."

An auditor arose and remarked, "This learned speaker should have said that, so far as he knows, there is no such thing as a heartfelt religion."

That reply was to the point. A great many people do not know that divine love may be realized in the soul; but their not knowing it does not make it impossible, nor unreal to those who do know it.

Therefore, to those who exclaim, "O that I knew where I might find Him!" an ever-enlarging number of trustworthy souls can humbly say, "Here, open thy heart to Him and find Him within thee!"